It’s 250 years since Jane Austen was born and her witty, insightful works still endure. Pride & Prejudice remains one of the evergreen favourites for Austen fans, with several film, TV and stage adaptations having been produced over the years. It’s Queensland Theatre’s turn with this joyous production that features an all-Queensland cast. Adapted by…
A slow-moving, intense jigsaw puzzle, a mood of unease permeates nearly every scene in UNA. Based on David Harrower’s Olivier Award-winning one-act play Blackbird, the film follows a young woman’s journey to reclaim her past. Fifteen years ago, 13-year-old Una ran away with and had sex with an older man, Ray – a crime for which…
Formed in 1961, The Beach Boys have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. They were listed at number 12 on Rolling Stone‘s 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The driving force behind the California sound was the enigmatic songwriter, singer…
ART is just the sort of theatre work that we need right now. It’s funny; it makes you laugh; it cheers you up if you’re feeling down – all those good things. And even if that’s all it does, then that’s perfectly okay. Luckily, it does a little more than that because it also raises…
Etta James’ sassy soul anthem Tell Mama may reassure listeners to ‘tell mamma about it’, but when Vika Bull begins Act One of the smash hit show At Last: The Etta James Story with the funky, high-spirited number, it is the audience who has desire to hear more. Bull’s love for James is clear and…
Harry Potter is casting a spell over Melbourne anew, as well it deserves to. How fitting, as speculation mounts about expanding the eight film Potter series, the last of which was released in 2011. As the saying goes, there is a lot of love in the room for this production at the Princess Theatre. You can readily…
Like YA novels? Here’s the blurb of the latest one I’ve read, Jenna’s Truth: Jenna’s just a teenager who wants to fit in. The popularity that she wanted though, quickly turns into infamy when two “well-meaning” friends spark a controversy that alters her life forever. What happens when the very group of teens you crave…
During the late 90s and early 2000s, the pioneering Blackberry – the phone with a keyboard – dominated the tech market. At its peak, the iconic device made up 45% of the cellphone market and had some 85 million subscribers. But then egos, hubris, corporate greed, shady business deals and rival tech companies and their…
Benjamin Stevenson’s first book featuring documentary maker Jack Quick was a revelation, particularly when considered again, in hindsight, from the viewpoint of the second novel in the series. Quoting from my own review of GREENLIGHT at the time: “There’s a something about GREENLIGHT that feels like a non-too-subtle dig at the commercialisation of true crime….
Political rivalry between church and state might seem like a dry subject for a movie, but writer-director Tarik Saleh turns into a compelling drama in Cairo Conspiracy. As well as directing episodes of Westworld and Ray Donovan, Saleh directed Chris Pine in the 2022 actioner The Contractor. So he knows his way around intrigue. Cairo…
